Paddy Brennan
Paddy Brennan was a comics artist from Dublin who primarily drew adventure strips for Dundee publisher D. C. Thomson. He worked for them on the basis that his work was anonymous and did not cooperate with anyone who wanted to write about him, so virtually no biographical detail on him is available. Leo Baxendale recalls that he split his time between Dublin and London, working six months of the year in each city, and that his name was Patrick, but he insisted, perhaps ironically, on being called Paddy.Leo Baxendale's Bulletin Board I have seen a copy of a letter from Brennan at an address in London, dated 20 May 1986.Alan Clark, private communication Comments online suggest he has died since then, possibly around 2000.Comics UK Forums: Paddy Brennan His first published work was a strip called "Jeff Collins - Crime Reporter" in Magno Comic, a one-shot published in 1946 by International Publications in Glasgow. More work for small publishers followed, including Cartoon Art's Marsman Comics (1948) and Super-Duper (1949) and Martin & Reid's The Rancher and Jolly Western (both 1949) before starting his long association with D. C. Thomson in 1949, drawing an adaptation of Sir Walter Scott's The Lady in the Lake in the People's Journal, and "Sir Solomon Snoozer" in the Dandy. It is said that he got his first work with D. C. Thomson after his sister sent them samples of his art. In the 1950s he drew mainly adventure strips for the Dandy, the Beano and the Topper. His first strip for The Beano was "Sinbad the Sailor" in 1950-52. He took over several strips, including "Jimmy and his Magic Patch" and "The Shipwrecked Circus", from Dudley D. Watkins. He also drew some humour strips, including the Dandy's "Rusty". He was the first artist to draw the Beano's "General Jumbo". From the later 1950s he also drew for girls' comics, including an adaptation of Harriet Beecher Stowe's Uncle Tom's Cabin for Bunty in 1958, and "Sandra of the Secret Ballet" for Judy from 1960. His later work included "Showboat Circus" for the Beezer, "Iron Hand" for Cracker in the late 1970s, and strips for Suzy in the 1980s. File:Marsman cover.jpg File:Jumbo1957.jpg File:Brennan paddy.jpg File:Brennan paddy rusty1.jpg File:Brennan turtleboy.jpg Early independent work *"Jeff Collins: Crime Reporter", Magno Comic, International Publications, Glasgow, 1948 *''Marsman Comics, Cartoon Art Publications, Glasgow, 1948 *"Mark Park", ''Super-Duper, Cartoon Art Publications, 1949 *"Johnny Amigo", The Rancher, Martin & Reid, 1949 *''Jolly Western'', Martin & Reid, 1949 DC Thomson People's Journal *"The Lady in the Lake" (Sir Walter Scott adaptation, R. Topper), 1949 *"Ali Baba and the Forty Thieves" (R. Topper) *"The Two Drovers" The Dandy *"Sir Solomon Snoozer", The Dandy, DC Thomson, 1949 *Rusty (1950-1954) *Fighting Forkbeard - the Sea Wolf from Long Ago (1951-) *The Galloping Glory Boys (1952) *Mickey from the Moon (1952) *Willie Willikin's Pobble (1952-)Peter Gray Cartoons and Comics: Paddy Brennan's Willie Willikin's Pobble *Young Drake (1954) *Crackaway Jack (1955-60) *Mickey's Tick-Tock Men (1955) *Robin Hood (1958) *Around the World in Eighty Days (1959) *The Galloping Glory Boys (1950s) *Westward Ho! with Prince Charlie's Gold (1950s) *Turtle Boy (1950s) *The Crackaway Twins (1960)Peter Gray Cartoons and Comics: Paddy Brennan's Crackaway Twins *The Island of Monsters (1969-70) *Iron Hands (1971)Peter Gray Cartoons and Comics: Iron Hand - Three Different Versions *The Boy from Lilliput (1972)Peter Gray Cartoons and Comics: The Great Paddy Brennan *The Talking Ball (1973) *Dave the Brave (1979) *The Hairy Gang of Robbers (1979) *The Bearding of the Wierdies *Blitz Boy *Bonzer the Bear Cub *Chuck's Wagon *Cripple Singh *Diamond Dick *Eastward Ho with Prince Charlie's Gold *Guardian of the Red Raider *Jimbo and Bimbo *Lionheart Logans *Little Lucky *My Pal Midnight *Oggie the Ostrich *Pete's Pranky Pup *Rikki the Rickshaw Boy *Rollo *The Secret Londoners *Skeet the Scrounger *Spadger's Badger *Swordsman Sam *Tufty's Lucky Terrier The Beano *Sinbad the Sailor (1950-1952)[http://www.beano.com/retro-beano/sinbad-the-sailor?decade=1950 The Beano: Sinbad the Sailor]; Peter Gray Cartoons and Comics: Sinbad the Sailor *Jimmy and his Magic Patch (1950-1951, 1959)[http://www.beano.com/retro-beano/jimmy-and-his-magic-patch?decade=1950 The Beano: Jimmy and his Magic Patch] *Jack Flash (1951, 1955-1957)[http://www.beano.com/retro-beano/jack-flash?decade=1950 The Beano: Jack Flash] *The Shipwrecked Circus (1951-1952, 1955, 1957)The Beano: The Shipwrecked Circus; Book Palace: Paddy Brennan Art *The Bird Boy (1952) *Red Rory of the Eagles (1952-1953)[http://www.beano.com/retro-beano/red-rory-of-the-eagles?decade=1950 The Beano: Red Rory of the Eagles] *General Jumbo (1953-1954, 1956, 1963)Wikipedia: General Jumbo; [http://www.beano.com/retro-beano/general-jumbo?decade=1950 The Beano: General Jumbo]; International Hero: General Jumbo *Longlegs the Desert Wildboy (1954-1955, 1957-1958) *Young Davy Crockett (1956) *The Wooden Horse (1956-1957) *The Moving Island (Beano Book) *Strongarm the Axeman (Beano Book) *The Happy-Go-Luckies (?) The Topper *Flip McCoy - the Flying Boy (1953-)Peter Gray Cartoons and Comics: Paddy Brennan's Flip McCoy from Topper *Jimmy's Mighty Midgets (1956)Peter Gray Cartoons and Comics: Paddy Brennan's Jimmy's Mighty Midgets *The Jolly Rogers (1954) *The White Witch (adaptation of the novel She by H. Rider Haggard, 1956)Peter Gray Cartoons and Comics: Paddy Brennan's White Witch, The Topper, Early 60s *Wulf of the Arrows (1957) *Captain Blood (adaptation of the novel by Rafael Sabatini, 1950s) *Rob Roy (1950s) *Mystery Nick: the Waif from Nowhere (1950s) *The Amazing Peet from Planet K (1973-75, 1982-83)Peter Gray Cartoons and Comics: Paddy Brennan's Amazing Peet from Planet K *The Whizzers from Ozz Bunty *Uncle Tom's Cabin (adaptation of the novel by Harriet Beecher Stowe, 1958) *The Old Curiosity Shop (1950s) The Beezer *The Showboat Circus (1950s) *Joey's Ark (1975) *Iron Hand (Transferred from Cracker, 1976-1979)[http://home.btconnect.com/thetopper/ironhand.htm Cracker: Iron Hand] Judy *Sandra of the Secret Ballet (1960-62) Wizard *Longlegs the Desert Wildboy (1973) Cracker *Iron Hand (1975-1976) Buddy *Longlegs the Desert Wildboy (1981) References *Alan Clark, Dictionary of British Comic Artists, Writers and Editors, The British Library, 1998 *Comics UK forums: Paddy Brennan, Irish Comics Creators, Paddy Brennan in the 1940s and 1950s *The Amazing World of the DCT Heroes, ComicBitsOnline Online reference Footnotes Category:Creators B Category:Comics artists Category:Dublin creators Category:Creators based in Britain Category:UK comics Category:Biographical Dictionary of Irish comics, cartooning and illustration